Brian writes:
>Maybe at this point but there is precedence. The Big Ten, PAC 10 and
>other football schools who were fed up with the NC**'s processes
>decided to form its own organization and the College Football
>Association (CFA) was born. It signs its own TV contract with
>ABC and has its own rules for member football programs and with
>two of the nation's biggest (and best football) conferences as
>members, it certainly has influence.
 
	Wrong on at least two points.
	The Big Ten is most emphatically not a member of the CFA.
	I don't think the Pac 10 is either.  The Big 8, Notre Dame,
	and a number of southern schools formed the CFA.
 
	The CFA rules do not supersede NCAA rules.  In other words they
	must follow all the normal rules concerning student recruiting
	and eligibility.  The CFA does have its own TV contract.  This
	is not contrary to any NCAA rules.  Each member institution is
	free to come up with its own TV deal for any sport e.g. NBC-the
	Notre Dame football network.
 
Graham writes:
>Mike Zak misses the point about the Ivy League.  He is absolutely right
>that there are intelligent hockey players at other schools.  But there are
>a hell of a lot of hockey players out there who wouldn't stand a chanc at
>the Ivies academically.  By the way, they probably couldn't handle
>engineering at Clarkson or RPI either.  The point is that the Ivies (and
>some other schools have minimum standards which players have to meet which
>are higher than the standards at some other schools.  This puts them at a
>competitive disadvantage (look at football, basketball, etc.)  The Ivies
>have managed to maintain their competitiveness in hockey through their
>strong tradition of support for this sport.  Again, this goes for some
>other schools as well.
 
	I think that Graham misses the point.  Academic achievement is
	its own reward.  However, having hockey players with high SAT scores
	does not make your team morally superior.  The players at other
	schools should (and I presume do) fit in with the standards at
	their schools.  If the ivy league doesn't want to compete with
	schools with a less lofty student population they should drop out
	of division I completely.  But please no crying that your team is
	smarter than others.
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@ mark grassl				[log in to unmask]            @
@ Go Badgers!                                                           @
@ "... and it's gonna be a long time, before you ride that bull again." @
@                                              --- Michelle Shocked     @
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